What I'm most excited about, though, is the resurgence of recorded music.
It has been almost a quarter-century since the Internet almost took down the…
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I'm excited about the return of live music to New York City. I've attended several classical concerts in the last few weeks, and in a week or so, I'll take in a show at the City Winery: Suzanne Vega. I haven't yet made it back to New York's amazing jazz clubs—the Vanguard, the Blue Note, Smalls—but I look forward to doing so soon, especially to dropping in on my jazz local, Smoke, when it reopens in a few weeks in new, larger digs.
When I learned that I was to review the new seventh generation of Monitor Audio's Silver 500 loudspeaker ($3200/pair), descendants of the original Silver-series products launched in 1999, I thought back on what I knew about the company and then refreshed my memory. Monitor Audio was founded, in 1972, in Teversham, England, a town bordered by farmland located some three miles from the epicenter of its more famous neighbor, Cambridge. The founder was businessman/sound engineer Mo Iqbal; Iqbal was assisted by Martin Colloms (before that venerable critic turned to writing about hi-fi) and…
"What a great-sounding recording," I thought, which is also what I thought five minutes later when I listened to the 24 Karat Gold CD, which is said on the cover to be mastered "from the original master tapes" of the Bill Evans Quintet's Interplay (CD, DCC GZS-1102). Compared to "Utopic Cities," the Evans recording was airier and more resonant. Note outlines appeared starker in space.
I was never a big fan of the sound of this Gold CD, finding it a bit dry and sterile. But now its tonal balance seemed to have inched into more verdant territory. It wasn't warm per se—in comparison, the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, four-driver, bass reflex floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: one 1" (25mm) tweeter with waveguide; one 3" (76.2mm) midrange driver, two 8" (203.2mm) bass drivers. All driver membranes are ceramic-coated aluminum/magnesium alloy. Crossover frequencies: 800Hz, 2.7kHz. Frequency response: 27Hz–35kHz –6dB. Sensitivity: 90.5dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 4.1 ohms minimum (at 150Hz). Power handling: 250W RMS. Recommended amplification: 80–250W.
Dimensions: 43.1" (1095mm) H × 12.6" (319mm) W × 15.3" (389mm) D. Weight: 49lb (22.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Rega P5 turntable with RB700 tonearm and Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 cartridge.
Digital sources: Simaudio Moon 260D CD transport.
Preamplification: Sonic Frontiers SFP-1 Signature phono preamp.
Integrated amplifiers: Grandinote Shinai, Cambridge EVO 150 streaming D/A integrated amplifier.
Loudspeakers: Focal Aria K2 936, Totem Skylight.
Cables: Digital: BIS Audio Maestro (RCA S/PDIF). Interconnect: Moon Audio Silver Dragon (RCA). Speaker: Nordost Heimdall. Power: Shunyata Research Black Mamba CX, LessLoss DFPC, Audio…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Monitor Audio Silver 500 7G's farfield behavior with DRA Labs' MLSSA system, an Earthworks microphone preamplifier, and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike, with its small ¼"-diameter capsule, to measure the nearfield responses of the loudspeaker drive units and ports.
The Silver 500 7G's sensitivity is specified as a high 90.5dB/2.83V/m, which was confirmed by my estimate. Monitor Audio specifies the Silver 500 7G's impedance as 8 ohms, with a minimum magnitude of 4.1 ohms at 150Hz. Measured with Dayton Audio's…
As I watched WAM Engineering's J.R. Boisclair give an advanced turntable setup seminar at last November's Capitol Audiofest, a light went off. I'm being figurative, but the lights did—literally—go off, and then on again, as I flipped the switch for Boisclair's presentation (see the above photo), which featured both screen time and an in-person lecture.
Boisclair's presentation did not include setting up an actual, physical turntable. Rather, using slides and 1000:1 scale 3D-printed groove and stylus models, he dug into the advanced concepts involved in setting up a turntable and why those…
I communicated with Franc via email, and at first, he was incredulous. He asked me to perform a few more diagnostics then agreed that the arm needed to be returned to his factory in Slovenia.
You can imagine the disappointment that registered on this 4Point owner's face when I gave him that news. He'd already had a few years' worth of this sort of thing. I also suggested that the cartridge be returned to Japan to deal with the slightly canted cantilever so that we could start "fresh" once he got the arm back. He grudgingly agreed and at that point told me, "You know, when the cartridge…
The Doors: L.A. Woman (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
Elektra/Rhino R2 659055 (3CD/1LP). 2021. Bruce Botnick/Doors, prods.; Botnick, eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
Elektra/Rhino R2 659055 (3CD/1LP). 2021. Bruce Botnick/Doors, prods.; Botnick, eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
The Doors flew like a comet across the rock/pop universe, running only four and a half years and six studio albums with lead singer/poet/shaman Jim Morrison. L.A. Woman, their last album, marked a hard turn back to the rock and blues basics from whence they sprang in 1966 as a hot bar band on Sunset Strip. It is a masterpiece, a hit out of the gate that has grown in stature over time. Morrison took a…
I remember, around the time I started at Stereophile, telling Art Dudley that I wanted to review "a lot of power amplifiers" because amplifiers are the "blood-pumping heart machines" that "reanimate the artistry" of musicians: Horowitz, Björk, Bill Monroe. Whereupon he looked over his glasses and spied me with bare eyes like a stern parent and said, "Just be sure to not review any amplifiers that weigh more than 65 pounds."
I warned Art that this could be a problem because I only like class-A amplifiers, "and they all weigh more than that." Art rolled his eyes, turned his head toward the…